Many different types of computing devices exist today. Examples of such computing devices include desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablets, e-readers, smart phones, etc. These computing devices often are interconnected with each other through local and wide area networks (e.g., the Internet) that allow the users of these computing devices to participate in multi-participant activities. Online gaming is one type of multi-participant activity.
It is often desirable or necessary that the users participating in a multi-participant activity communicate with each other during the activity. A video or audio conference is a convenient way of communication between the users. Several approaches are possible for these multi-participant conferencing. One such approach is having a server gather audio/video data from all the participants in a conference and distribute the gathered data back to the participants. Another approach is having the participants exchange the audio/video data among each other using their interconnected computing devices without relying on a server. Yet another approach is having one participant's computing device gather and distribute audio/video data from and to other participants' computing devices.
An example of the third approach is a focus point network. In a multi-participant conference conducted through the focus point network, a computing device of one of the participants serves as a central distributor of audio and/or video content. The central distributor receives audio/video data from the other computing device in the audio conference, processes the received audio/video data along with audio/video data captured locally at the central distributor, and distributes the processed data to the other computing devices. The central distributor of a focus network is referred to as the focus computing device or the focus device, while the other computing devices are referred to as non-focus computing devices or non-focus devices.
FIG. 1 shows an example of the data exchange between computing devices in an audio conference that is being conducted through a focus point network. Specifically, FIG. 1 illustrates audio data exchange for five computing devices 110-130 (of five participants A, B, C, D and E) in the audio conference. In this example, the computing device 110 (of the participant A) is the focus device. The computing device 110 receives the audio signals 135-150 from the computing devices 115-130, composites the received signals, and distributes the composite signals 155-170 to the computing devices 115-130. The computing device 115-130 are non-focus devices. These computing devices send their audio signals 135-150 to the focus device 110 and receive the composite audio signals 155-170 from the focus device 110. Each of the audio signals 135-150 contains audio content from one of the participants of the audio conference, whereas the composite audio signals 155-170 contain audio content from the participants after this content has been composited (e.g., mixed) by the computing device 110.